[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 103 (Wednesday, June 19, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3842-S3843]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM--93. A concurrent resolution adopted by the Legislature 
     of the State of Louisiana urging the United States Congress 
     to reassess the entire levee and floodwall system in the 
     southeastern United States; to the Committee on Environment 
     and Public Works.

                  Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 111

       Whereas, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) 
     recently completed the Greater New Orleans Hurricane and 
     Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS) at a cost of over 
     fourteen billion dollars; and

[[Page S3843]]

       Whereas, the HSDRRS system is a network of levees, 
     floodwalls, gated structures, and pump stations that form the 
     one hundred thirty-three mile Greater New Orleans perimeter 
     system, including three hundred fifty miles of interior 
     levees and floodwalls, and seventy miles of interior risk 
     reduction structures built to protect the Greater New Orleans 
     area after Hurricane Katrina; and
       Whereas, the HSDRRS system is one of the largest public 
     works projects in world history, providing Greater New 
     Orleans with the world's largest surge barrier of its kind 
     (the IHNC-Lake Borgne Surge Barrier) and the largest draining 
     pump station in the world (the GIWW-West Closure Complex); 
     and
       Whereas, even with all these recent improvements, the USACE 
     recently reported that the HSDRRS system may not be adequate 
     to protect New Orleans in as little as four years due partly 
     to the settling of the levees--a natural phenomenon that is 
     exacerbated by the soft soil in southern Louisiana; and
       Whereas, the USACE, in announcing that it is studying 
     system improvements, also cited ``the global incidence of sea 
     level rise'' in a recent Federal Register as a contributing 
     factor for the inadequacy of the existing levees; and
       Whereas, the USACE further stated in the Federal Register 
     that ``absent future levee lifts to offset consolidation, 
     settlement, subsidence, and sea level rise, risk to life and 
     property in the Greater New Orleans area will progressively 
     increase''. Therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Legislature of Louisiana memorializes 
     the Congress of the United States to reassess the entire 
     levee and floodwall system in the southeastern United States. 
     Be it further
       Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to 
     the secretary of the United States Senate and the clerk of 
     the United States House of Representatives and to each member 
     of the Louisiana delegation to the United States Congress.
                                  ____

       POM-94. A petition from a citizen of the State of Texas 
     relative to prohibiting any employer from inquiring about 
     salaries of a candidate applying for employment; to the 
     Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

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